Life Interrupted
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: When an attack by humans destroys Starscream's body, only Soundwave has the means to save his Spark. But will the solution be acceptable to all, particularly his wing brothers, Starscream, and Soundwave himself.
1. Chapter 1

Life Interrupted.

Summary: When an attack by humans destroys Starscream's body, only Soundwave has the means to save his Spark. But will the solution be acceptable to all, particularly his wing brothers, Starscream, and Soundwave himself.

Continuity: Movieverse, but with G1 colour schemes, concepts and characters thrown into the mix.

Disclaimer: Transformers and all characters therein belong to Hasbro and Dreamworks/Paramount.

A/N: I was checking out something in "Too Useful To Waste" and this bunny jumped up out of the blue and bit me. I have no idea what it's gonna do. Thus it may be a bit slow to be updated. Bunnies with minds of their own...bleagh...

Life Interrupted.

When Thundercracker and Skywarp appeared with a bang of displaced air in the centre of the Decepticon Base, the twisted form they bore between them was not immediately recognisable. It was the greyed colour of Thundercracker's paintwork and the stricken looks on the faces of both Seekers that gave the first clue to any of the other Decepticons that the broken body the two held was that of their wing brother, Starscream.

Nobody moved, nobody knew what to do when the two lowered the pile of scorched and warped metal and circuitry to the ground and crouched by it, keening softly and stroking the ruined face, in which one optic still glowed. It was only when Thundercracker lifted his head, energon streaming from broken tubing in his optic sockets streaming down his own damaged face and said "Well don't just stand there, help him!" that any of them realised the Air Commander and Decepticon Leader was still alive.

As they all looked at each other to see who would make the first move – for no Decepticon medic had yet arrived – Soundwave pushed two of them aside and stepped forward.

"Explain-situation," he asked.

"We went to refuel at a human Air Force base. Starscream was leading and we headed down to land, but the humans must have recognised us, because they attacked us, and were using those Sabot rounds. Skywarp and I were able to veer aside, but Starscream was right in their line of fire and he took the brunt. We barely got away with him, and now he's dying!" Thundercracker explained.

Soundwave quickly scanned Starscream, his sensors having the right settings, and as he totted up the damage he realised the other two Seekers were correct, even Ratchet, were he there, would be unable to repair Starscream's body in time to save his fading Spark. The situation seemed hopeless, but Soundwave wasn't about to give up on the Seeker yet.

"Thundercracker,-Skywarp, find-something-to-use-as-stretcher. Others-leave." Soundwave fixed the others with a glower as he took Starscream's battered form from the other two, who headed off to look for an abandoned flatbed or something of a similar size to put their trine-mate's body on. Once everyone had left, Soundwave let some air through his vents. Finally, he could get what was necessary done without interruption. He didn't actually need a stretcher for Starscream's body, only for Starscream's wing brothers to be out of the way while he did what was necessary.

From a compartment in his arm he took out a specialised tool, and, forcing open Starscream's ruined chest, he slipped the end of the tool into Starscream's Spark chamber. As the Spark-collector did its job, he deployed his tentacles, which found easy access into Starscream's body via his injuries. Tapping directly into the Seeker's processors, he downloaded everything in Starscream's memory. He noted that much of the data was corrupted or incomplete, so much damage had been done to the Seeker, who must have met the hail of bullets almost directly head-on. Setting himself a memo to try and retrieve all he could, he put everything downloaded into a separate file.

Once that had finished, he reached into his chest and found his last empty cassette, which as he recalled was flight-capable. Once the Spark-collector beeped, signifying it had finished, Soundwave withdrew it from Starscream's now-inert body, and carefully opened the chest of the Cassette. He put the Spark-collector in it and reversed the setting from "Collect" to "Release." As the Spark rushed into the Cassette's Spark-chamber, the optics glowed and the wings twitched, but as the body was not yet energised, nothing more happened. Picking it up, Soundwave slipped it inside to charge. He then used the injuries inflicted on the Seeker's helm to gain access to Starscream's processor clusters and memory chips, carefully removing them and storing them in a compartment in his arm. Then he stood upright and headed back to his room, now ignoring the remains of Starscream's original body.

What would happen now was open to question, but Starscream's Spark was now in a safe environment. Now he was in no immediate peril of dying.

When Thundercracker and Skywarp got back, they were at first confused, for although Starscream's body was inert, they could feel through the trine-bond that he was not dead. They went to Soundwave's room, where they found him, and asked him what had happened, why was Starscream's body inert while their trine-bond indicated that their wing brother was alive? Soundwave told them: he had transferred Starscream's Spark into a Cassette. They were at first angry about this, but Soundwave cut off their angry accusations.

"He-lives. That-can-change." At the not-so-veiled threat, they shut up, both hoping Soundwave was bluffing but not willing to call his bluff in case he was not. He looked at them.

"Why, though?" Thundercracker asked. "Why would you do this to him?"

"So-he-lives." Soundwave replied. "Humans-say-where-life,-is-hope."

A/N So, opinions please! Do I continue this or just put it up as a one-shot? I do have ideas but no framework to put them in as yet. Is there anyone else you'd like to see in it?Ideas? Love it? Hate it? Please contact me!


	2. Chapter 2

Life: Interrupted.

Chapter One.

Warm. Comfortable. These were the first sensations the new cassette recalled. It had no concept of time, of how long it was in this state, it only had an awareness that it was. When that situation changed, when it felt another take a gentle but firm hold of it, felt itself moving, felt the warmth chilling and felt itself made to change form, it opened its optics.

It could make out nothing more than a fuzzy blur, which sharpened into an angular shape with silver, two points of red immediately capturing the small one's attention. It could hear a low murmur, then felt something connect into the back of its neck, and then suddenly, it had some awareness, of identity, of language.

"You,-Starscream," the low but harmonic voice was saying. "This-one,- Soundwave." A hand was raised to the other's chest. "Starscream-obey-Soundwave. Soundwave-protect-Starscream." The cassette squeaked, it-he?- could see no problems with this. The other – Soundwave, he recalled – nodded. "Starscream-needs-to-fly. Starscream-will-learn."

Flying. He had no knowledge of the concept, but he did have a feeling that it was something good, something nice, so he squeaked happily at the pronouncement. He flexed the little metal wings that he only then realised he possessed, and gave a coo of contentment. He tried to get to his feet, but he was unused to the appendages, and flapped about on them awkwardly before falling down on his back. The cable disconnected from the port in his neck, dislodged by the fall.

He wriggled and struggled to get back upright, squawking in distress, then felt gentle hands pick him up and set him down the right way. The cable was re-inserted into his data port, and the mechanics of walking on the legs flooded into his processors.

"Wait," he was instructed. "Soundwave-will-help-Starscream-learn-walking."

One hand slipped under his body and the other rested on his back between his wings, and Starscream felt himself lifted so that the feet rested, toes splayed on the surface, but none of his weight was on them. "Move-them-as-information-shows," Soundwave commanded.

Obeying, Starscream got used to the feeling of placing the feet, digits spread, on the floor, one after the other, without having to bear his own weight. When Soundwave thought he had the mechanics right, he gave him warning, and began to let Starscream take a little of his own weight. As Starscream got used to this, and more confident, Soundwave let him take more and more of his own weight, until Soundwave's hands were only there to catch him if he slipped. Soundwave carefully withdrew the hands after a while, as Starscream sped up his pace, racing around the little table swiftly.

He was so excited that at one point he saw the edge of the table a little too late. He backpedalled but his momentum took him over the edge and he went over with a frightened squawk. He had fallen no more than a few feet when he was caught by those same big hands, who set him back on the table. "Learn-to-fly-_later_," Soundwave said, and the little Cassette heard what he guessed was amusement in the big grounder's voice. "Suggest-Starscream-recharge-now."

Starscream didn't feel like recharging and opened his beak to say so, but before he could, Soundwave picked him up and firmly folded him up. This form triggered recharge, and Starscream's processors went into a recharge loop.

Soundwave did not immediately put Starscream away in his chest, but held him close to his chest and sat down, his mind already going through Starscream's memories, setting aside what was damaged for later, deeper work, and picking through what was left to see what there was.

It was true, he reflected, that the Seeker had been a thorn in his side at times, particularly with the issue of leadership, but it was also true that Soundwave did not particularly relish leadership. He had his own plans, his own ideas, that was true, but leadership took for too much time and effort, time and effort Soundwave would prefer to spend on those same plans and ideas.

Soundwave preferred to be led rather than followed, but he needed a leader who was stable, who would not be asking for assistance or taking too much of Soundwave's valuable time. He could have let Starscream die, but that would have affected the other two members of his trine, who made up the body of the Decepticon's aerial forces. He was well aware that the Decepticons had an edge over the Autobots because the Autobots had no fliers amongst their number, and that edge he was not willing to relinquish. So, to save their fliers he had to save their trine head, odious as the Seeker was.

However, now he had possession of the Spark and the memories of Starscream, so perhaps he could somehow turn this to his advantage. At the moment, Starscream was as a sparkling, dependant, curious, and perhaps malleable. He despised the brutal reprogramming that had been used during the earlier years of the war, and knew such crude techniques would not be needed here. He stroked the little Cassette's back, the purr of a thrumming engine, active on a low-level even in recharge, answering his caress.

Such blank-slate personalities, he reflected, could be influenced in ways that the most judicious and thorough reprogramming could not come close to matching. If he reared Starscream well, even once the Seeker's own memories were returned, it might, in the long-run be of benefit. He though he recalled hearing that Starscream had been involved in an accident that had claimed the Sparks of his Creators and had necessitated his transfer into an adult body. He had missed out on vorns of Creator-care. Perhaps Soundwave could step into that role, until he returned Starscream's memories to him.

Of course, the difference would be that he would still be there after that event, might still be seen, due to being a Cassette for some time, as a Creator-figure, regarded as a source of comfort by the Seeker, rather than an irritant. Maybe he'd even be seen by the new Decepticon Leader as a source of guidance, a situation Soundwave would use to his advantage.

Putting Starscream away in his chest, he reflected on another way that he was different to the Seeker: he had patience. To be seen as a Creator-figure in a way that would last once the Seeker had recovered would take time and effort, which, along with patience, Soundwave was willing to provide.

He stood, and moved through to the main control room. He was not surprised to find Starscream's wing brothers waiting for him. They looked briefly at each other, and then Thundercracker, the oldest, thus the more senior of the two, stepped forwards.

"Soundwave, with all due respect, we must remind you that Starscream is a Seeker, and as such-" Soundwave cut off Thundercracker mid-sentence.

"Starscream-requires-flight-to-function," he stated. "Thundercracker-and-Skywarp-will-teach-Starscream-how-to-fly. Soundwave-will-call-tomorrow." Thundercracker nodded in relief and stepped back.

As Soundwave moved through to check on any observations, he reflected that this two-pronged attack on the Trine could be most effective if carried out meticulously. It would do the Trine no harm to allow them to know that he was aware of Seeker needs, and would place them before many other considerations, but if he were also to gain Starscream's trust, it would only reinforce the Trine's confidence in Soundwave. This could only lead to a harmonious Trine, and in such situations, harmony was always more desirable.

Content now that he had devised a plan, he ordered discreet surveillance of the Autobot Base, and got down to the business of leading. Onerous although the duty was, Starscream's transition back, when it came, would be easier if everything was up to date.


	3. Chapter 3

Life: Interrupted.

Chapter Two.

When Starscream felt himself unfolding this time, he had some idea what to expect, but he was surprised to find himself laid onto Soundwave's arm, wings spread, legs hanging either side of the big mech's wrist. He began to squirm, but Soundwave splayed a hand onto him in an unspoken command for him to be still. Once Starscream complied, Soundwave began stroking him down his back and then along the upper surface of his wings, catching the hooked tips with two fingers and pulling to extend the wing to its full stretch, and Starscream found himself enjoying the personal contact.

"Flying-will-be-learned today," Soundwave said. He popped a cord from his wrist and connected to Starscream again. "Programming-is-available-of-theory, but-Starscream-must-learn-practically."

Starscream felt the programming of how to fly in this body flow into his processors, plus some extra speech and language programming, and flexed the wings Soundwave had pulled to full extension in eagerness.

Soundwave had earlier called Starscream's wing brothers, and they came in, their optics finding and zeroing in in Starscream's new form. The two looked at each other, and then Thundercracker stretched his hands out towards him. Starscream eagerly scrabbled to get up, Soundwave helping hand the winged Cassette over to the Seeker.

"Thank you, we will take him and teach him, although there are only two of us, we can cope," Thundercracker said. Soundwave nodded, watching as the two Seekers took Starscream out. He checked the surveillance data to see if anything notable was occurring at the Autobot Base, found nothing, checked with everybody else, and decided nothing needed his attention at present. He sent everyone a com instructing that he was not to be disturbed unless it was urgent, he removed Starscream's processor clusters and memory chips from his storage, and began work, seeing if there was anything that could be salvaged, any extra data that he could extract from the chips.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Starscream clung to the blue Seeker, whom he had no memories of but who he felt close to and safe with, as he and the other, whom he also trusted, flew up into the sky, a sensation Starscream decided he liked. At one point, they levelled out, and the one not holding him flew so he was about twice his own length away from him, and faced them, holding his arms out. Starscream felt the one holding him take him gently in a two-handed grip about his waist, and said "Go to Skywarp, Starscream, he'll catch you no matter what." He swung him back slightly, then Starscream felt himself thrown out as the hands released him, as he sailed in a graceful curve towards the other.

At least it started that way, but Starscream's instinct was to spread his wings, and when he did it disrupted his trajectory as air drag and turbulence around his wings made him first wobble, and then sent him into a tight spin that also caused him to start plummeting towards the ground. Frightened and disoriented, Starscream cried out as the air whistled past him and the spinning ground drew closer, when he heard a pop, and he felt hands catch hold of him. The disorientating spin stopped, he was turned the right way up, and then he could see that his saviour was Skywarp.

The fear receded instantly, replaced by a frisson of excitement that had Starscream yearning for the experience to happen again, but to his dismay Skywarp instead drew closer to Thundercracker and began talking to the other Seeker.

"That flexible wing arrangement is going to make things awkward. Why do Soundwave's cassettes fly in such an inefficient fashion?"

"Actually, we can probably adapt our methods, and having a non-fixed wing gives him the advantages of both a swifter jet and a slower one, as stretching or flexing his wings will make him able to slow down or speed up as needed, and he'll be able to switch between the two quickly with practice. It'll make him very manoeuvrable."

"Are you sure?" Skywarp asked, hooking two fingers around the end of one of Starscream's jointed wing and moving it back and forth.

"Okay, not really, it's a different arrangement from the swing-wing jets, but it should work in theory," Thundercracker admitted.

After a little more discussion, Skywarp passed Starscream to Thundercracker, and then retreated thirty feet away and ten feet down from Skywarp. "Access the flying data Soundwave told us he gave you, and try and use it to fly down to Skywarp," he instructed. He threw Starscream out into the air, and Starscream flapped and flexed his wings as the programming instructed.

The first two times, although he managed a little control, he mainly glided and spun below Skywarp the first two times, necessitating his rescue, but as Starscream's confidence in Skywarp increased, his attempts to fly also improved. On his fifth try, he reached the correct altitude but overshot the dark Seeker, who shot after him and scooped him up, and on his seventh attempt, Starscream managed to glide to a halt just in front of Skywarp, laughing out loud with joy and excitement . Once he demonstrated that he could manage this several times and that it wasn't a fluke, Skywarp changed his position to ten feet above Thundercracker, and they repeated the manoeuvre. This time it only took three attempts before Starscream worked out how to guide and propel him to the right position. Then they worked on the straight, and as Starscream was both more used to his body and had confidence in his tutors, he got it correct from the off.

They moved on to turning, showing him how they did it and then explaining, while folding and unfolding his wing to demonstrate, how to do it. On his first attempt, he didn't bend his wing enough, and didn't turn at the right time or angle, the second and third time he pulled it in too far, sending him into a spin that might have been catastrophic had Skywarp not been there, but his further attempts, with advice on dipping his wing slightly to the side he wanted to turn, were more fruitful.

Skywarp caught him up at the end of his last turn and said "We should take you down now, but we can teach you landing and taking off later."

"Why not now?" Starscream replied. It was the first time he had vocalised, and the two were surprised at how similar to Starscream's original voice the high, complaining tones were.

"Because you need to assimilate and input what you have learned today. Be patient, Starscream," Skywarp said.

"That was never Starscream's strongest point," Thundercracker reminded his wing brother.

"Well, it's best to wait, so we'll teach you all you need to know about taking off and landing another day," Skywarp assured the eager little cassette. Starscream looked at Skywarp resentfully, but stopped wriggling.

The two Seekers took their time landing however, describing lazy circles and figure of eights as they slowly spiralled down towards ground level, Skywarp holding Starscream against his chest. The dark Seeker cooed gently at him and thrummed his thrusters so the sparkling could feel them through the bigger flier's body. The effect on Starscream was to send him into recharge. When they handed the recumbent Cassette to Soundwave, he carefully folded him up and put him back into his chest to recharge, remaining standing until the other two Seekers had reported what Starscream had learned, and then left.

Soundwave had carefully gone over Starscream's memory chips, repairing what he could in an attempt to find and reconstruct the shattered memories on them. One or two he had managed to reconstruct but had discarded, for they were nonessential, and potentially damaging to Soundwave's efforts, for they dealt with the Seeker's dislike and distrust of him. He could explain it away as being too badly damaged to recover, and nobody could question the veracity of his statement, especially after he had damaged the chips and the files on them further by half-wiping them if anybody wished to have another go.

There were another three he had recovered which would go back on to new chips, for when the Seeker's body could be repaired and his Spark and processors replaced. The body was so badly damaged that even if they had a medic it would have taken some time. Without a medic, it would get done, but it would take even longer.

That time was time that Soundwave decided that he would not waste.


	4. Chapter 4

Life: Interrupted.

Chapter Three.

Two Seekers and two Cassettes spun and flew in the air, for Soundwave had realised that Laserbeak could probably assist Starscream in learning the abilities and limitations of his new body in flight. Soundwave had allowed Starscream to mingle with the other Cassettes for some time now, and there had been no major problems or personality clashes between Starscream and the others, although Laserbeak did seem to tease Starscream, but in a big-brother kind of way. And Starscream had quickly learned to fight back.

It was Laserbeak who suggested that he and Starscream go to spy on the Autobot base from a distance, and although the two Seekers were reluctant, they had to admit there was little more they could teach Starscream when it came to flying. He had picked up taking off and landing with ease, and Laserbeak had shown him how manoeuvrable he could be with jointed wings. He had progressed beyond what the Seekers could teach him, and they agreed reluctantly. They didn't tell the two that they would follow at a distance, just in case.

However, Laserbeak knew them too well, giving a sharp squawk that translated as "Stay back, you're too big and noticeable!" The two Seekers looked at each other, planning to follow at a distance anyway, but then picked up the call that Laserbeak had intended them to hear back to Soundwave, telling him what the two Cassettes would be doing, and that he was sending the Seekers back. A nanosecond later, Soundwave's affirmative arrived, along with a message to the Seekers to return to base. Skywarp looked at Thundercracker, then at the smug Laserbeak, and stuck his tongue out in a fit of childish pique before turning and flying alongside Thundercracker on a slow and winding course back to their base.

Laserbeak sent Starscream a com to follow him, and showed Starscream how to hide behind buildings and in trees, and even how to hover overhead without drawing attention to themselves. When they neared the Autobot base, they landed on a flat building roof and crouched low to look down upon the chain-link gate and the two soldiers guarding it.

Nothing much seemed to be going on at first, and Starscream was already getting bored when Laserbeak nudged him with a wing. Starscream saw the yellow Camaro edging out with what appeared to be an unusually young-looking holoform. He said as much to Laserbeak on a special secure channel, and received a slightly harder nudge with the wingtip.

"That's not a holoform, slow processor clusters, it's a human, one of the dominant lifeforms on this world," Laserbeak replied on the same frequency. "But this squishy is the Autobots' special pet, and it can be interesting to see where he goes. We follow him, at a distance, and find out where he's going."

It was easy to stay close to the human at first, but as they got towards the edge of town, the buildings thinned out, and much of the vegetation was too small for concealment. However, this was not as big a blow to their plans as it might have been, as they could create a holoform of the scenery to conceal themselves. It would have been energy hungry, but doable, and it was what Starscream thought they'd have to do, until Laserbeak had a flash of inspiration.

"I believe he may be on the way to this location," Laserbeak said, sending the co-ordinates. "It is a place where the Autobot can go into robot form with little risk of being seen, even the Decepticons avail themselves of it at times, and the human and Autobot have been seen there frequently. You fly high and fast, and get there and hide before they get there. Maybe we can find something out, or even bring back the human."

"Why would we do that?" Starscream asked.

"He might know things Soundwave might want to know, we can present him to our Creator as a gift. Maybe he can be our pet instead of the Autobots' and even if not, it can be a fun part of your training, like a game. You've not flown carrying anything yet, have you?"

"No," Starscream admitted.

"Then off you go," Laserbeak said, jabbing at Starscream with his beak to emphasise the point. Starscream responded with a burst of static that made the other Cassette wince, but quickly flew high, and then headed for the co-ordinates he was given. Laserbeak, he assumed, would follow using what little cover there was as concealment. What was inadequate for two might be usable by one.

He got there with just a little time to spare, concealing himself in a tree and then telling Laserbeak, who would hover high up until a chance to steal the human presented itself. Starscream made sure he was fully concealed, and then watched as the yellow Camaro drove onto the bumpy but otherwise flat top of the area Laserbeak told him the local humans called 'The Lookout.'

The Autobot pet exited, allowing the Autobot to transform, although Starscream only had optics for the human, who although he looked not quite as squishy as the nickname suggested, fascinated Starscream. What must it be like to have a soft layer over his rigid appendages, he wondered? How could they function with all that malleable coating and with just a thin membrane holding them together? If they were punctured, would they deflate, or was there more to them than was immediately apparent? He would have dearly loved to have scanned the human to get some of the answers, but Laserbeak had earlier warned him that scanning would alert the Autobot. Perhaps if they captured the organic, Starscream would be allowed to scan, and maybe touch him, and answer some of his questions.

The human stretched out and the Autobot did likewise. They chatted for a while, something Starscream identified as "small talk" and again, Starscream wondered why they were here, on the off-chance they were discussing top secret Autobot intel, he supposed. He recorded the conversation as something to do, although he doubted how badly the human – who Bumblebee called Sam – needed a rest, and how well or not he'd done in his examinations, counted as important Autobot intel. He was surprised at the closeness exhibited by the two, so different in their respective origins, but able to talk to each other in such an easy and relaxed manner. Their guard was down completely, something Starscream thought was slightly foolish, considering both he and Laserbeak were in striking distance. On the other hand, perhaps it showed just how well the two Cassettes had concealed themselves.

"Try and seize the human, I'll deal with the Autobot!" Laserbeak's com startled Starscream out of his reverie, and he slid as quietly as he could out of the branches to free his wings so he could swoop down on the human.

It wasn't quite quiet enough, for he heard the human say "What was that?", the note of alarm creeping into his voice. "Who's there?"

A screech told him that Laserbeak had thrown discretion to the wind, and he took advantage of the distraction the other Cassette provided, slipping from behind the trunk to see Laserbeak, flying and shooting at Bumblebee, the human beginning to run forward in a futile effort to help. They both had their backs to him, and neither of them were even aware of his presence, so he swooped down, grabbing the human around one upper arm, fastening his other set of talons gently on his shoulder. Too gently: as the human jerked in surprise, the shoulder slipped from his grip. He screamed and grabbed onto Starscream's leg with his free arm, which just made things easier for him. As he pulled up, he fired a thin laser beam at Bumblebee with little concern for his own exposed position and the heavy weight dangling from his legs. He knew that the distance and the altitude would make Bumblebee hesitant to fire, in case he hit the human, and the human less inclined to struggle for fear of being dropped.

The human, as he'd imagined, stopped struggling and grabbed his legs with both hands, but didn't stop shouting. A red shot whipped past, but so distant that Starscream knew that it had to be a warning, only intended to put him off and so far wide he didn't even have to dodge. He was obviously scared of hitting the human, so the Autobot pet was already proving useful it seemed, but as Starscream flew on unimpeded, he couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

"Get him to Soundwave! He'll know what to do!" It was Laserbeak. But where was he? He wheeled, and saw Bumblebee, one foot holding something to the floor, something that looked much like him. It was Laserbeak! The Autobot had captured him! Starscream tucked his wings in and began to stoop, planning to rake his optic lasers over the Autobot, and the human began to scream, but then Laserbeak spoke again.

"No! Go to Soundwave! The Autobot pet can be used for bargaining! Find Soundwave!"

Starscream aborted his dive, the human gasping out thanks to what Starscream assumed was one of the deities of his world, and made for the Decepticon Base as soon as he could, comming Soundwave as he went. The reply was short and to the point.

"Soundwave knows. Soundwave acknowledges. Return to base. Soundwave will make plans. Laserbeak will be rescued," Soundwave advised him.

Starscream flinched as Bumblebee's shot came uncomfortably close, and increased his speed. Starscream also managed to get his free foot around the human's other arm; although the human was holding onto Starscream's ankles so tightly that he doubted the human would let go, he was taking no chances. He had to dodge a couple of times, prompting more shouts from his unwilling passenger, but was soon out of the Autobot's range in robot form. He flew high and straight from then on, so if the Autobot pursued he'd have no time to shoot or even aim with any accuracy, until he saw the Decepticon Base ahead. Then he stooped again, ignoring the moans of the boy, flying in over the head of Barricade, who was on gate duty, and into the building Soundwave occupied, a spare warehouse with its huge doors open in readiness for Starscream's swift entry.

Soundwave pressed the button on his console to close the doors as Starscream landed, rather awkwardly, with his burden. As he felt the ground beneath him, and felt Starscream's feet release his arms, the human made a futile attempt to run. The attempt was abruptly terminated by Soundwave, who deployed several tentacles, which curled round his body and limbs and held him, squirming, in the air, firmly enough to secure him, but gentle enough to avoid causing him bodily harm.

"Starscream has done well. Laserbeak must be rescued, Soundwave will discuss this soon." The big Decepticon lifted his ruby gaze to where Sam still struggled in the silver tentacles, and spoke again.

"However, Soundwave must still decide what to do with Samuel Witwicky."


	5. Chapter 5

Life: Interrupted.

Chapter Four.

"Huh? Starscream? That's not Starscream," Sam said. Soundwave and the Cassette both ignored his comment, but Starscream hopped up on one of Soundwave's arms.

"Can I study him, Creator?" he asked. "I have never seen one up close before." Soundwave looked at the little Cassette and gave a small chuckle. Then he nodded to Starscream, his tentacles lifting Sam up until his face was level with Soundwave's optics.

"Do-not-harm-unless-he-attempts-harm," he said to Starscream. Then to Sam: "Do-not-attempt-escape." His tentacles carried the human back to the ground and released Sam as the Cassette jumped down, stretching out a wing to gently guide Sam towards the back of the building. The human nervously allowed himself to be herded by the cassette into a smaller room at the back.

As he turned nervously, wondering exactly what was to happen to him, and if Soundwave's version of "harm" tallied with his, Starscream scanned him, and when he stopped turning, gave him a gentle shove with one wingtip to indicate that he wanted him to continue his pivot. Feeling a bit foolish, Sam brought his arms up and did a slow twirl, which seemed to please the flyer.

Another couple of gentle nudges pushed Sam back further, and then the Cassette got frustrated, sweeping a wingtip behind Sam's knees, toppling him backwards till he was semi-sprawled on the floor, the Cassette circling him and darting in to look at his hands and legs close up.

"You know, if you wanted me to sit, you could have just asked, you know," Sam said. "I know you can talk, right? And I guess Starscream was a common name in your part of Cybertron, a bit like Steve, or Michael, or even my name, Samuel, is in our part of the world." Sam knew he was babbling but didn't really care, and his winged abductor didn't seem to mind either, so he guessed that was all right.

He wasn't really expecting a positive response, as Decepticons had never before seemed to think of asking permission to try and kidnap, kill, or study him, so he was surprised when the metal flier said "Would you please remove coverings?"

"Coverings?" Sam asked a bit confused, then pulled at his T-shirt and jeans. "Oh, these?" As the cassette bobbed in assent, Sam pulled his T-shirt up and took it off, and then dropped his Jeans and stepped out of them. The Cassette leaned forwards and scanned him again, and then said "All?"

"Aw man, why? We humans kinda find it taboo to take off our clothes in front of others. It seems kind of rude, you know?"

"I will not mind," came the reply.

"What if _I_ mind?" Sam asked, but was already removing his socks and vest, hoping the curious mech wouldn't mind him leaving his boxers on.

"I can scan through, but would prefer an image in the visible light spectrum." Starscream paused, and then added "Please?"

Sighing, Sam removed his boxers, and allowed the mech to scan him, but was surprised when after doing so, it used a talon to hook his boxers up and apply them to its neck.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked as it threw the boxers aside – unfortunately not back towards Sam – and repeated the process with his vest.

"Analysing the odour and any hormonal residue on your clothes to non-invasively work out some of your organic processes," Starscream told him,

"You're sniffing my boxers, and my other clothes?" Sam asked in mild horror. "That's, like, ewww!"

"Why?" Starscream said, slinging the vest the same way as the boxers and repeating the process with his Jeans.

"Well, human body odour's not that pleasant," Sam said. "Sniffing my sweaty clothes is a bit gross, that's all."

"I am not sniffing them as such," Starscream said. "I am intaking the odour and then using the different levels of chemicals and breakdown products to gain an insight into how you organic form functions."

As the flyer discarded his Jeans and reached for a sock, Sam couldn't help but say "Don't! Sniff that and you'll be lucky to survive!"

The Cassette aborted his grab for the sock and looked at Sam.

"Your socks might be toxic to me?" he asked, not a trace of amusement in his voice, and Sam realised Starscream had taken him seriously.

"Um, not really, it's just that my feet smell terrible. If you look on the Internet you'll see that smelly feet are often exaggerated and often used as the subject matter of jokes. I was exaggerating, but I warn you, my feet do smell pretty rank."

Starscream stopped and his optics flashed in the way he knew Bumblebee's did when accessing the Internet. After a few moments, Starscream said "Yes, you are correct. If I have to change the filters in my sensors after this, I will no longer protest your warnings about your nasty foot odour."

Sam did a double take as Starscream lifted the sock to his neck again. Did Starscream just join in and make a jest?

"There is a greater percentage of breakdown products and bacterial emissions in this fabric. I would imagine the odour would be very unpleasant to humans and many Cybertronians. Including myself." With that, the mech threw Sam's sock aside, grabbed and threw the other after it, and then set about 'sniffing' Sam's T-shirt.

"Um…can I have my clothes back?" Sam asked.

"Are you cold? I can have the temperature turned up if you wish, because I am still curious, and wish to ask you questions about your body conformation," the mech said, dropping Sam's T-shirt. "Such as, what is this?" He twitched his wingtip so it touched Sam's limp penis. Sam immediately cupped his hands protectively over his groin. "What is its purpose, and do all humans possess one?" Starscream asked.

"Um, no, human females do not, only males," Sam said, his face reddening. "We use it for peeing, um, that is, ah, to release waste, um, lubricants, and other things." Sam hoped that would satisfy Starscream's curiosity.

"What other things, please tell me!" Starscream said, sounding quite intrigued.

"Oh god, okay, give me a moment and I'll explain," Sam said trying to remember everything he'd been taught in biology about human reproduction, and how his Dad had conducted The Talk for him. Then he looked over at Starscream, who was still looking interested, and said "Okay, here it comes, Human Biology and Reproduction 101,"

"101?" the Cassette asked in a confused tone.

"Never mind, not important, really," Sam said, and proceeded to tell the mech what he wanted to know.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Just over two hours later, Sam had finally answered as best he could all of Starscream's questions about human reproduction, the properties and function of the male penis, masturbation, sexual attraction, and human reproduction, including what little he recalled from classes concerning pregnancy and birth, the last of which seemed to slightly revolt the cassette. He just hoped the mech was sufficiently revolted not to go off, bring back a pretty girl, (or worse, an inflatable doll) and ask for a practical demonstration of intercourse. Sam resolved that if anything of that nature did happen (or the conversation went that way) that he would refer him to the adult satellite channels and porn on the internet. He groaned silently as he realised he could have saved time and his blushes by referring the Cassette to the Internet anyway.

To Sam's relief, the Cassette said "Wait, and rest, I will come back."

"Hang on, you know I mentioned waste lubricants and stuff like that? I'm going to need to get rid of solid and liquid waste and I'd rather not just go on the floor," Sam said.

"I will get you a container, the Cassette said. He went out and returned with two empty buckets, one insde the other, in one talon, and one full of water in the other, all of which he put on the floor..

"Soundwave says you will need these," Starscream said. "One empty is for liquid waste, the other empty for solid waste, and water to drink and clean with." Sam nodded and thanked Starscream who said "Wait there, and remember not to try and escape, I don't want you hurt and you might be if you try escaping." Then he went out, leaving Sam ill at ease.

After the Cassette had been gone for some time and showed no signs of returning soon, Sam retrieved his clothes and put them back on, then relieved himself, using, as told, one empty bucket to pee in and the other for his solid waste. He put the two containers in a corner, where the smell shouldn't bother him too much, had a few mouthfuls of water, and curled up on the floor tiredly next to the water bucket.

As he began to doze off, he wondered if Starscream would analyse his waste products, and if so, what the cassette would make of them.


	6. Chapter 6

Life: Interrupted.

Chapter Five.

As Starscream guided the human into the smaller room beyond, Soundwave turned back to the screen he had been watching when Starscream came in with his captive. Laserbeak's distress signal had stopped, probably because the other flying Cassette had received his acknowledgement, and one of the two Decepticons who had just landed, one after the other, was still stationary. Soundwave began to get concerned that one of them might be damaged, but a moment later the signal began moving towards the second, suggesting that its owner was on the road and heading to meet the other.

Soundwave knew that he would have to get a medic over soon, and wondered if he could find a way to get Ratchet to come over for a short time, just to check them all over. Starscream's accident had reinforced their lack of a trained medic-mechanic, and the fact that Starscream was the first major casualty since Mission City was more luck than anything else. He would have to hope that these new arrivals had sustained as little damage as their progress suggested, for both were now travelling towards the Decepticon Base. Nobody preceding them had been able to warn the second wave of Decepticons about this system's asteroid belt, the beacon signal strong enough to send a guiding pulse out of the system, but only strong enough to send data as far as the fourth planet in this system.

First, he thought, he'd better lay the groundwork, and talk to the Autobots about arranging a prisoner exchange. Had Laserbeak not been captured, he could have exchanged Sam for Ratchet's services on a favour-for-favour basis. Now, however, he had to organise a one-for-one prisoner exchange, _and_ find something else that they had which the Autobots wanted or needed in order to do a favour-for-favour exchange on top of the prisoner exchange.

He hit a couple of keys on the console to send a call request to the Autobot Base. It didn't take long to receive a response from the Autobot leader Optimus Prime himself, who said "Soundwave. You are obviously now aware that although you have captured one of our human allies, we are in possession of one of your Cassetticons, Laserbeak. He is unharmed and being treated well. Can you say the same about Bumblebee's human ward, Sam?" he asked. It was obvious to Soundwave that this young human was important to them.

"The-human-is-unharmed," Soundwave said, "and-will-remain-so-as-long-as he-does-not-attempt-escape. Exchange-of-prisoners-desirable-to-both-sides. Concur?"

"Indeed," Optimus Prime replied. "I request that you guarantee Sam's return to us unharmed and alive."

"Human-will-be-returned-alive-and-unharmed," he confirmed, even as he sent Starscream an insistent com not to harm the human no matter the provocation, and receiving an affirmative from the Seeker-turned-Cassette.

Which was another problem Soundwave realised he needed to find a solution to. Not that he minded having a young Cassette to look after, and Starscream himself seemed to be happy enough, albeit unaware that he had had a different life and a different flying form before this one. However, Starscream's wing brothers were already acting proprietorial over Starscream, and would certainly take exception to his remaining a Cassette any longer than they felt strictly necessary.

They would need to find a craftmech and a medic to work together to create a functioning body, as Starscream's original one was so badly damaged that only sixty to seventy per cent of the original parts could be used to make him a new body, and the rest of the parts would have to be made from scratch. Soundwave would need to be seen to be making an effort to find mechs with the requisite skills, or he might find the remainder of his Air Force mutinying, possibly even absconding to the Autobots if they thought they might be able to get the body built and the Spark transferred. In addition, their air superiority is what gave the Decepticons a needed edge on this world, and at the moment, Starscream's current condition was just a distraction to the other two Seekers.

"When and how do you wish to conduct the exchange?" Optimus asked, Soundwave's thought having only taken a second to compute the issue without even taking his attention off the conversation.

"Soundwave-will-discuss-with-other-Decepticons-and -with-your-human," he said, hoping to throw Optimus off guard with the idea of including Sam in his discussions, and then terminated his call. He would call back a little later, after discussing the exchange with the other Decepticons and Sam, as promised. However, he wanted to assess the status of the two newcomers first, and while waiting for his or her arrival, Soundwave decided to take inventory. If they were to ask the use of their medic, they needed to find out what they had that the Autobots might want. However, Soundwave thought he knew the answer to that: not much.

Sighing in his processors, he turned to do just that.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

"He will ask Sam?" Optimus said to Ratchet and Ironhide, who had been close enough to hear but off-screen during the whole exchange.

"It doesn't seem the typical Decepticon way, but who knows?" Ratchet asked. "Soundwave is an enigma, and Sam is himself something of a wild card. It is possible that something about him has piqued that emotion we all possess, be we Autobot or Decepticon: curiosity. I do believe him when he guarantees Sam's safety, Soundwave has always been truthful in my experience."

"Then we must wait, I assume, for Soundwave to contact us again," Optimus said, sending a call request to the Decepticon Base again and getting no reply.

"I suggest we give him 24 Earth hours and if we have heard nothing by then, present our own prisoner exchange plan to him, leaving a recorded message if need be. It is likely that Soundwave, for all his silence, will be listening. He must have a reason for the delay, and it is best if we give him some of that time he seems to want. We do not wish to risk harm coming to Sam because of our impatience."

They were interrupted by another communication from the Decepticon base, and Optimus, sat in front of the screen, turned it on to be greeted by an image of Sam, dishevelled but apparently unhurt.

"Soundwave told me I could call in to let you know I am safe and have not been hurt, just terminally embarrassed." He gave a quick grin to show the sometimes literal-minded 'bots that he was joking. "Looks like I'm one of Soundwave's Cassettes' study subject. Soundwave said he'll contact you about exchanging me for Laserbeak in about twelve hours. Soundwave's asked if you can bring Laserbeak to the screen so he can see him." He looked up, and apparently had not missed anything because he said "Hope to see you guys in person soon," and then abruptly moved as Soundwave hove into view.

"Please-bring-Laserbeak," he asked, rather unnecessarily, as Ratchet had headed out to get him the moment Sam mentioned it. Optimus informed Soundwave of this, and then there was a short wait before Ratchet entered with the little flier perched on his wrist. He chittered at the sight of Soundwave, flying over to land on a surprised Optimus' shoulder, and flexed his wings.

"You-seem-well." Soundwave noted as Laserbeak turned and pecked at one of Optimus' head antennae.

"Laserbeak-behave," Soundwave admonished the Cassette, to the surprise of everybody, including Laserbeak. The Cassetticon cawed reproachfully but subsided.

"Meet-tomorrow-at-Lookout, Earth-time-1400-hours. One-on-one,-Soundwave and-Optimus-Prime. Exchange-prisoners. Discuss-any-other-matters. Concur?" Soundwave said.

"Agreed," Optimus said. "What other matters-?" He cut off mid-query as Soundwave terminated the transmission after hearing Optimus' agreement to the exchange.

"I guess we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out," Ratchet said as Optimus gently seized Laserbeak and handed the outraged Cassette to the medic. "I will take you back to your room, Laserbeak, and replenish your energon. And please stop doing that! Anyone would think I was trying to kill you!" Ratchet said as Laserbeak began to peck at his fingers. Still grousing, the medic took Laserbeak out.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Soundwave walked back through to the small room that was, at present, Sam's accommodation, coming Barricade to await orders. He walked trough to where Sam was permitting Starscream to touch him with wingtips and claws on his head, face, torso, and limbs. Starscream pressed one claw down on Sam's arm a little too hard and Sam yelped, pulling his arm back abruptly, then yelping again as the action drew the talon down his arm, drawing blood.

"Starscream!-Be-careful, he-is-fragile. Soundwave-promised-the-human-would-not-be-harmed." 

"It's just a scratch, I guess it will heal, but human skin is full of nerves, it just hurt. And it looks like more blood then there is," Sam said as blood welled up from the cut. Starscream dipped the tip of his beak on the blood, then grabbed a clean cloth from a nearby pile and dropped it on Sam's arm. Sam held it to his arm, and Starscream began analysing the blood on his beak.

"Prisoner-exchange-occurring-tomorrow-1400-Earth-t ime. Concur?" Soundwave asked Sam, who looked up, surprised to be addressed so, and said, "Uh, yeah, sure!"

"Does-Samuel-Witwicky-need-food? Pizza? Beverage?" Soundwave asked.

"Um, yes please, pizza please, but I don't want chillies or anchovies. And a soda, Coke, or Mountain Dew would be nice, please," Sam said, deciding that although Soundwave didn't seem to want him harmed that it couldn't hurt to be extra polite to this mech who currently seemed to be in charge in Megatron's absence.

Soundwave nodded, comming Barricade to pick up Sam's food. Then he turned to leave to speak with the other mechs of the Decepticon faction in the Base, and to check the progress of the two newest Decepticons to make Earthfall. He sent Starscream a com, reminding him not to damage the human further, as the one scratch could be passed off as the accident it was, but any further injury would be suspicious.

It was as Soundwave was finishing informing the Decepticons on base that he received a com from Payload on the gate that the two new arrivals were at the gate requesting permission to be let in.

"Soundwave-will-recieve-them. Main communication-area, one-breem. Direct-them." Soundwave bid the rest of the grounders farewell, and left for the hangar, calling for little Starscream to join him on the way. The Cassetticon joined him as he reached the hangar, where the main communication area was sited, flying through to land on Soundwave's extended wrist. He gave the Seeker-turned-Cassette a quick but thorough caress with the other hand as he sat to wait for the new arrivals. He didn't have to wait long.

The door opened to admit Payload and a pair of unknown mechs. One was brown, and appeared to be smiling, but his bright, intelligent optics swept the room and took in Soundwave and Starscream, settling on them. The second smaller mech was a bright lemon yellow and he too swept the room with his optics they too settled on Soundwave. The pair glanced at each other for just a fraction of a moment, and some unspoken communication must have occurred, because both then simultaneously dipped and bowed. As they straightened, Soundwave addressed them.

"Please-state-designations-and-functions."

"Certainly," said the brown mech. I take my name from my alt, a model named Synergie, so you may call me Doctor Syn. My function is that of a medic and a craftsmech."

Before Soundwave could reply to that, the second mech spoke.

"My name is Headfixer, and I am a medic with specialisation in coding and processsor damage, and the repairing as such. I am a personal friend of Starscream's, and came in response to his beacon." He paused as Soundwave took in the fact that all his greatest and most immediate problems were about to be solved.

"I am surprised that he is not here with you to greet us himself." He paused again. "Is he recharging, or out on a mission to leave you in charge?" he paused again, and then looked at Soundwave as he asked his next question.

"Where is Starscream?"


End file.
